Chapter 6

February 2008 –Eight Months Later

Eddie looked at the little pink bundle in his arms. His ears were still ringing from the screaming, but he found something close to inner peace as he traced a finger along the baby's face.

"I-i-is it a boy?" She said weakly.

Eddie turned to Mrs. Kennedy, feeling a pang of jealousy as he knew this baby wasn't his. "It's a girl ma'am?"

Mr. Kennedy reached for the baby and Eddie was forced to hand it over. "Our little Valentine's Day baby," Mr. Kennedy cooed, showing its face to its mother for the first time.

"We could name her Valentina," Eddie heard Mrs. Kennedy say weakly.

How original, Eddie thought. In his two-year career as a nurse, he had helped in the birthing of around twenty babies on the last two Valentine's Day, and at least five of the couples wanted to name their sons Valentine or daughters Valentina. Last year, Eddie was close to laughing at the couple's faces when Mr. and Mrs. Valentine wanted to name their son Cupid.

He knew his job was done, and the cleaning was usually left to the other nurses. He looked at the new family again, jealous of their new child.

"Another job well done, Eddie," He heard Dr. Hane's giggly voice behind him as she whispered on his ear a bit too close than he'd like.

"Thanks, Alice—er, you too," He moved towards the door and hurried out of it. It was common knowledge in St. Mary's that Dr. Alice Hanes was the office whore, and had set out to prey on every attractive staff in the hospital—including married ones like Eddie. He was one of the few who had resisted her advances—which made him only more of a bigger catch for tigresses like her.

"Hey," She called him as he tried to scurry away. He didn't want to seem mean, so he turned.

"Do you wanna go grab a drink after this?" She asked in a flirty voice. "It's been a while since I've been out…"

"Sorry, Alice," He wasn't sorry. "It's Valentine's Day. I've got plans for me and Mara."

"Right, the pre-school teacher," She said, immediately scowling at the sound of Mara's name. "Well, maybe next time then." Thankfully, she went the other way and rounded at the corner, and Eddie walked back to Mrs. Kennedy's room to sneak another look at the baby before he changed out of his scrubs.

Lately, every time he had assisted in a birthing operation, he couldn't help but feel jealous towards every new family. Throughout every birth, he imagined it was him and Mara who were the patients, but he imagined it doing it his own way. He wouldn't be the type of father who was disgusted with the miracle of childbirth; he would hold Mara's hand, letting her know that he was there while she suffered for the sake of their family. So many women screamed, and he knew Mara would too—he would be the type of husband who would make sure their wives knew he would share the pain from her if he could. They'd have beautiful children with beautiful faces and beautiful names not like bloody "Valentina" or something.

Eddie re-lived the fantasy of his future child's birth as he changed out of his work clothes and drove home. Unfortunately for him, St. Mary's didn't let him change his schedule even if it was Valentine's Day, so before he could even reach the freeway, he knew he would be home after nine in the evening.

He reached his home by a quarter past nine, cursing the traffic a few blocks away from his street. Wasting no time, He snatched the flowers and present he bought for her from the front seat and darted towards the stairs to the fourth floor. When he reached their apartment, he found a new doormat on the floor. It was a typical "There's no place like home" doormat, although he began to wonder what Mara was up to.

Eddie opened the door, realizing the apartment looked different…in a better way. Although the lights were off, scented candles were lit around the house. The walls, which were bare apart from a few photos of him and Mara, and some with her parents, were now decorated with random pictures with quotes on them. Eddie's favorite photo had always been the candid shot of them after the wedding as he kissed her hand like a gentleman, and it was still hanging, but this time was surrounded by smaller photos of them ever since they started dating.

"Eddie?" Mara came out the room to greet him, smiling. She looked stunning in a strapless red dress. "Happy Valentine's Day, you're gonna love what I have for a surprise."

He came to her, planting a kiss on her lips, handing her the bouquet of roses he picked up on the way. "When did you do all this?"

"This afternoon," She smiled, leading him to their kitchen. "Tommy got the flu and because he was so touchy with his classmates Quinn decided to dismiss the students early just in case—although I think she really just didn't want to spend Valentine's Day in school. After we left the school, Sophie took me to this really cute bazaar, and I figured I'd do this before you arrived."

Eddie looked at the small memories of their happy life together, framed to look like a collage. "I like this one the most," He said, pointing to a poster with the words "Love Makes a House a Home."

"It should be right under our wedding photo," He pouted. "Our love does make this apartment what I look forward to whenever I wake up, darling. Or maybe this other one—'Our Feet May Leave Our Home but Not Our Hearts'."

"Tough luck, you'll have to wait next year—I spent half the day planning this whole apartment out" She pouted back. She grimaced, and spoke the next words really carefully. "Expect that the rest of the bare walls to be filled with new pictures in a year or less."

"Of course—we have our forever, don't we?" Eddie took the stereo remote from the table and turned on the stereo, playing his favorite song. "Remember this?"

When I was a boy my mother often said to me

Get married boy and see how happy you will be…

"How could I forget?" She smiled. "But there's really something—"

"Dance with me darling, the mood is perfect!" He embraced her as he waltzed across the hallway between the kitchen and living room, savoring the moment.

"I have looked all over, but no girlie can I find," Eddie sang along. "Who seems to be just like the little girl I have in mind…"

"Eddie…" She said urgently, and he let her go to look at her face. "Expect our whole apartment to be filled with photos…only, they're probably not going to be of just the both of us."

It took a few seconds for Eddie to process what she meant, and when he did, his eyes lowered from Mara's face to her tummy, placing a soft hand over it. "Are you…Mara, darling…"

"I lied to you, darling," Mara smiled. "Quinn let me go early because I kept getting sick. I suspected it, and well…" From her pocket she pulled out a rectangular plastic Eddie knew too well. Mara showed him the two pink lines that meant the world to him.

"Oh—oh darling!" Eddie exclaimed. "But are you…ready for this?"

"I think we've waited long enough." Mara smiled. "I'm happy being here with you—but now I want to share that life with a child of our own. I've been teaching kids that aren't mine and you've been welcoming babies into this world that aren't even yours. I'm ready to have our own baby in this world and raise it as our own—since it is."

In the dim hallway, Eddie found Mara as beautiful as she was on their wedding day. "I love you, darling." He planted a long kiss on her lips.

"Now, about that dance," Mara grinned, and Eddie happily took her hands in his once more as they waltzed their perfect dance, ready to enter a new chapter of their life.

Little did Eddie know that this would be one of the last happy memories in his life.